


Vantas?

by Lunah_Peixvey



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: A book in the Lockwood and Co series, Blood and Injury, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fetch, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Meenkri, On to the actual tags, a very good series, anyway, based off of The Hollow Boy, slight gore, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 05:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12858117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunah_Peixvey/pseuds/Lunah_Peixvey





	Vantas?

After the fall, Meenah found herself stuck at the bottom in a corridor. A hole above her showed the night sky, shining down and providing little light for her surroundings. Patting herself down, Meenah came to the realization that she had lost her lighter. “Well, there goes my fucking light source.” Thankfully, she still had her knife to protect herself with.

“Meenah…” The wind seemed to call her name and her breath hitched in her throat. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and surveyed her surroundings. The walls were stone, crumbling in some places and covered with lichen in others. Shadows jumped and moved on the walls, sending shivers down her spine.

“Who the fuck is there?” She called out, turning her head back and forth with her knife out in front of her. “I’m armed!” A wince as she heard her voice crack on the last syllable. 

“Meenah…” She jumped at the sound of her name and whirled around, flicking her knife out. The tension slumped from her shoulders as she recognized the voice.

“Kankri don’t fucking scare me like that, I was worried you were a ghost or something.” Meenah slipped the knife back into it’s holster and sighed in relief, stumbling forward slightly to get closer, “How did you get down here? There’s only one entrance as far as I can see…”

“Oh, Meenah,” He exhaled softly, “Nothing could stop me from coming to you.” In the dim light, Meenah could see his outline. See the slender arms, toned torso, and the flick of his hair that always seemed to defy gravity. Though from the shape of his face, she could see he was smiling, his voice was so sad it made her pause. 

“Kankri? Is everything okay?” She took a step forward, leaning forward to try to see him better, “Babe, what’s wrong?” Her lips turned down at the corners, eyes narrowing.

“Nothing could stop me from coming to you. Nothing in life or death…”

Meenah felt like the air had been punched out of her. She took a few gasping breaths as she shook her head. This couldn’t be real, Kankri couldn’t be...he couldn’t just _die_. He’s a good man, a better boyfriend. He can’t be dead. “What the _fuck_ are you talking about?”

“Don’t be scared dear, I can’t hurt you.”

“Kanny you’re scaring me, shut up.” Her nails dug into her palms and she cringed, face scrunching up, “Just shut up.” Meenah rocked back and forth on her heels, biting her lip as she inhaled deeply to calm herself down.

The silhouette of her lover stood there, outlined by a pale light.

“Come closer.” After a few moments, Meenah broke the silence, “Come into the light, let me see you better.”

“That’s not a good idea, Meenah. Please don’t make me.”

Slowly, her gaze descended. From the solid head and shoulders, to the slightly less solid torso, to the...to the wispy legs and not-there feet. Meenah stumbled back, gasping as she felt the world being tugged from under her feet. How had she not noticed? How had she not noticed her boyfriend didn’t have any fucking feet? She crumpled to her knees on the hard stone ground, uncaring at the cold seeping through her skin. “Oh, oh Kankri. _No_...”

Kankri’s voice was calm, and sure like it was in life, “You mustn't mourn me, Meenah. We both know I don’t want you dwelling on the past. My death, and my existence is in the past. Don’t dwell, my love.”

Meenah’s hands moved up to cover her ears, a slight shake of her head as she attempted to block out the noise.

Compensating, he spoke louder, “It’s not your fault.”

But she knew it was. She had fallen down the hole, and probably caused him (with his stupid martyr complex) to jump after her. Getting himself killed in the process. If only she was safer or smarter on this hunt, then he might still be alive. “ _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!_ ” She mumbled at herself, hands clawing through her hair and tugging at it. Tears fogged up her sight and she wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Images of the past flooded her head. The time when they fought that Bean Sidhe, how Kankri stuffed cotton in his ears while the spirit wasn’t looking to arm himself from her wail. Then the time they fought that women in white, where Kankri pretended to be her lover reincarnated to distract her while Meenah set fire to her bones. Or the way he’d wrap himself in prayer beads and iron links under his clothes to keep him protected. Kankri was always the smart one, the one who kept being cautious and kept her from dying. A cracking laugh rose in her throat at the irony of their fates. 

She blinked again, wiping away more tears and cleaning them from her glasses. Rising from the ground, she brushed the dirt from her clothes and sniffled.

“Oh, damnit.” Kankri cursed, breaking the calm facade he had up, “I didn’t want to make you hurt worse. I just, wanted to say good-bye. I couldn’t live with myself if the last words we exchanged was just babbling about a stupid hunt!” A slightly morbid chuckle, “Well, it’s not like I can live with myself in general anymore.”

Meenah couldn’t stop herself from joining him in the chuckle, sniffling through it though she was, “Stop. Don’t make me laugh, this isn’t time for laughing. H-how did you even die, Kankri? I need to know that at least.”

“I fell and I died. Very clean.” A dismissive flick of his hand, “Does it really matter?”

“Yes, it damn well does. You died protecting me, you fucking _jackass_!” The scream wasn’t truly born out of anger, but more of sadness and frustration, “Now I have to go on without you!”

The shade that used to be her boyfriend backed up, hands raised, “It was always going to be this way, Meenah, you know that. I was Icarus, flying too high to the sun and I fell. My luck couldn’t last forever, and I didn’t expect it to. I’m just happy I got to save you. Save you…” His head bobbed as he looked her up and down, “from even getting a scratch.”

A frustrated groan and she ran her hand through her hair, “You know I’d do the same for you, hell, I’d do anything to be able to do the same for you.”

“Of course you would, that’s why I loved you. You were a great lover, Meenah, and you’re going to make someone else very happy. That’s all I want for you, Meenah. For you to be happy after I’m gone. Now, speaking of that,” Kankri’s form seemed to become more transparent, “I really must be going.”

“No. Not before I see you one last time. Please Kankri,” Meenah gestured with her hand, “Come closer.”

“I shouldn’t, it will only make you more distressed.”

“I don’t care, Kankri, come forward. I need to see you one last time.”

“As you wish.” Spirit flame erupted from his feet, illuminating his body more fully and letting Meenah see every detail. The blue flames reached the ceiling and bathed her in heat, but that wasn’t enough to distract her from the sight before her. 

There Kankri stood, his feet nonexistent and legs transparent, but that wasn’t what caught her eye. What caught her eye was the great bloody hole in his chest. Kankri’s flannel shirt had been torn open by the force of whatever had pierced his chest, and the tattered remnants faded to smoke along with his body at the edges. His face was pale and drawn, the corners of his eyes crinkled with the smile curving his lips. In contrast to his expression, his eyes were dulled down, and his smile was tender and sad. 

Meenah lurched on her feet, holding her head in her hands and sobbing. She should’ve listened to Kankri, she wished she could scrub the memory of his dead body out of her mind. Looking up, Meenah gasped again, stumbling back. What she saw didn’t make sense. Kankri’s head was turned to the side and instead of the side of his head being shown, there was nothing. Just empty space past the front facade of his body. Like his insides had been scooped out and he was left with just his front. 

Kankri’s form had turned all the way around, leaving Meenah to look at the inverse contour of his face. An indentation for his nose, a slight hole where his mouth was. High cheekbones pressed inwards and two eyeholes were empty, allowing her to see the hallway past him. A sharp gasp and her hand moved to her knife, “How dare you!” Brown eyes narrowed and she snarled, flicking her knife into her hand. “How dare you take his form, demon!”

The imposter paused, and turned around, facing Meenah with the horrible copy of Kankri Vantas. “I’m not a demon, Meenah.” A soft smile curled his lips, “I am merely a vision of what is to come.”

“That’s a lie, you’re just trying to feed off my fear.” Meenah crouched her body, getting ready to pounce, “I’m going to make you regret that.”

“Not all that you see is in the past, I merely show you what is to come. You’ll get him killed one of these days, and it won’t be me you see as a ghostly Vantas.” Almost mockingly, the shade smiled at her. Smiled at her like the true Kankri would, one of brightness and love. Then, it was cut in half with a shining silver sickle. 

Standing behind the slain ghost was the real Kankri Vantas. His face was pale, but that was more from dust rather than death. His clothes, while torn in some places, were free of blood and didn’t have a hole in them. Maroon eyes narrowed in worry as he took a step forward, “Meenah? Are you okay?”

She gasped, stumbling back and almost falling. “H-how much of that did you hear?” A red flush crept up her cheeks. 

Kankri moved forward, arms open as he embraced her, hugging him close to his chest, “Enough.”

Meenah couldn’t summon up anything to reply, instead just burying her head into his chest and listening to his steady heartbeat, taking steadying breaths as she did so.


End file.
